Now that this life-changing 2-week trip has come to an end, I’ve spent some time thinking about what I’ve learned (other than how exhausting jet lag is, as I sit here at 10:30pm knowing it’s 3am in Ireland). One of the strongest messages I’ve come to take away, both from the site visits and from the Disability Law Summer School, has been that there is a gap between ideas and implementation into practice, but that this gap should no longer exist. One of the presenters on Tuesday at the Summer School, Lucy Costa, summed this thought up perfectly: “We can no longer protest. We have to conceptualize and envision ways to change systems.”

I find it interesting that she used the word “protest.” Her usage of the word made me reflect on a brief history of how disability advocates have worked to drive change, and consider that there may have been (and may still be) instances in which change looks like protesting. While I do not find any fault in protesting, I do agree with the rest of Ms. Costa’s statement: “we have to conceptualize and envision ways to change systems.”

Between creating an idea and putting said idea into practice, there lies a gap that needs to be filled. Ideas should always be welcomed: persons with disabilities deserve to be included in their communities, for instance. In order to drive change that turns these ideas into reality, however, we need to think about how we can move an idea forward. Can we find safe and friendly neighborhoods for persons with disabilities to live in? Can we help persons with disabilities by giving them more opportunities to be in the community, so as to create opportunities for natural friendships and relationships to develop?

Another presenter from the second day of the summer school, Cher Nicholson, posed the question “what has to happen, to make that happen?” In order to fill in the space between ideas and reality, we need to remember that it is not enough to say that we want change to happen; sometimes it is not enough to protest.